My Knight
by Lilyana Turner
Summary: Yumi reflects on her feelings toward Ulrich.


A/N: I haven't written a one-shot in more than a year, and I was sitting here because Huntsville gets a fall break (a wonderful addition, I must add, but we also start school August 8th, sooo…) anyways. I only have a little homework and a whole week to do it, so it's time to write.

Anyways. I'm taking a break from Jeremie Aelita and doing something like Odd and Parker or Ulrich and Yumi. Prolly Ulrich Yumi. I'll do a really cute one on Odd and Parker later on after I finish Lyrical Moments.

So here we go.

ZXCVBNM

When I was little, I decided I wanted to be a princess. I'd grow up and be beautiful, and marry a prince, and move to his castle, and we'd live happily ever after. When I told my mother this, she smiled at me and said, "Maybe someday, dear." In two-year-old language, maybe means yes. I grew up practically knowing I would be a princess someday.

Now, seventeen years later, my mother asks me all the time what happened to my "princess dreams". I tell her, "I was two, mom. Now I'm nineteen. I'm not a kid anymore."

Right before I graduated, my Lit. teacher did a segment on Middle Ages English poetry and stories. We learned about Arthur and Lancelot and Guinevere, and Knights and Lords and Ladies. You know the phrase, "Chivalry is dead"? Well, we learned exactly what chivalry was.

Chivalry was the code of honor that medieval knights followed. Want some examples? Okay. _Thou Shalt respect all weaknesses, and thou shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy. Thou shalt make war against the Infidel without cessation, and without mercy. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil._ And my favorite:_ Be known for unwavering commitment to the people and ideals you chose to live by. There are many areas where compromise is expected—Loyalty is not one of them._ And so on and son on. Those are a very small part of a very large list of the code of Chivalry. Chivalry is also defined as the ideas of knightly virtue, honor, and courtly love. (Courtly love, by the way, is when a knight pursues a woman, usually not his wife, but never touches her. It's a completely emotional, not physical, relationship.)

You know, the more I study this stuff, the more I realize that Ulrich is exactly like a knight.

I mean, think about it. Point one: knights began their training at the age of seven, when they were sent to another Lord's home to ensure strict training and became pages. While there is no Lord of Kadic (unless you count Headmaster Delmas) and Ulrich came when he was nine, not seven, still. He's been here his entire life. He was a black belt by age ten, and he's been beating my ass for five years, whether or not I'll admit it.

Point two: knights always adored a lady. I'm not saying I am anything close to a "lady", but I still know Ulrich likes me. I'm not saying that to be conceited, I'm saying it because it's true. Just like it's true that Odd is madly in love with Parker and Jeremie's nuts for Aelita.

I can name many, many times when Ulrich has sacrificed his well being so I could escape. The time I nearly fell into the digital void, for instance. He could have stopped and saved himself, and instead he came and nearly threw himself off a cliff to catch me. And when X.A.N.A. possessed all the health food, even though I'd already been devirtualized and Odd and Aelita were in great need of help, he told me to run while he fought it.

I've already graduated, and soon I'm going to college. And Odd and Aelita and Ulrich and Jeremie are going to stay at Kadic, for a whole nother year. Jeremie's really stepped it up trying to find Franz Hopper and the cure for Aelita's virus, but… Things can only go so fast. No matter how much work he puts into it, or how many times he re-reads Franz Hopper's diaries, things can only go at a certain speed. Anything above that and the whole team suffers.

But back to Ulrich and his knightly-ness.

I know we've been running in circles around each other for the last few years. And I know that a few years ago I told him that we should only be friends. That was when I still liked William. I mean, what was I _thinking_? William, of all people! He's… Well, simply put, he's William. He's arrogant, and conceited, and an ass to Ulrich. I know from what Jeremie and Odd told me that Ulrich at least had the decency to back off and give William a chance after I asked him to. When I told William it was over, he just kept coming. William pushed me to do things I didn't really want to do—sex, for instance. So maybe I hadn't planned on staying a virgin, but I'd planned on it happening when _I _was ready, and to hell with what everyone else thought. So what happened wasn't exactly rape, because I consented, if only to stay with William a little longer. I felt like he might leave if I said no again. But… But I went through the whole thing thinking _I wish that was Ulrich,_ and I didn't enjoy it one tiny bit. I wasted my first time on William. And I felt so terrible afterwards that I told him it was over. I understand now how Ulrich felt when Sissy stalked him, and I hope he understands why I got so jealous all the time, even though I knew nothing would ever happen between them. But, like I said, one day we'd be together, the next we wouldn't. One day he'd be jealous, the next I'd be jealous, and so let's just be friends, please.

I knew he wouldn't like that. But what choice did I have? I could date William and lose my best friend. I could date Ulrich and lose William. I could tell one of them that I was only interested in being friends. Of the two, I judged, Ulrich was the least likely to overreact. And, like a true knight would do, he just stood back and waited until I was ready.

Well, ready happened this spring, when everyone went out of town. Aelita and Jeremie went to spend some time with Jeremie's family, and Parker and Odd went to see Parker's newest niece. I think me and Ulrich and maybe one or two other people were the only ones left at school. Technically I wasn't there—I wasn't a boarder, and since no one really cared what Ulrich did anymore, he just slept at my house. Not in the same bed as me, mind you, or even on the same floor. My parents made sure that everyone knew that lights out was at 12:30, and once the lights went off they were not to come back on. We were not to leave our beds.

My mom really liked Ulrich. She told me to keep him close, and that if I didn't get to him first, Sissy would. Or Aelita, or Parker. But Aelita and Parker were both too smitten with Jeremie and Odd to even notice Ulrich, and Sissy and William eventually found each other. I won't lie and say that they deserved each other, because they didn't. I mean, they both deserve to be happy, but I wouldn't wish Sissy on anyone, not even on X.A.N.A. But they're really in love, and happy, and in the end that's all that matters.

Back to being ready. One night, my parents and Hiroki had gone out to dinner and then to a movie. I didn't want to go, and Ulrich wasn't allowed to go, so we just stayed at home and watched a movie I already had. Ice Age or something. And while we were sitting there, these… these _feelings_ came bubbling up. I mean, I'd always felt them. I just played it off as a leftover from the crush I'd had on him when we were freshmen. But that night, during the movie, I realized just how horrible I'd been to him. I realized that for the last year and a half, I'd been stepping on the feelings he was keeping from me. And since we both knew how we felt, there was no reason to hide it anymore.

"I like you." I blurted out, during the tensest scene of the movie.

He jumped, then turned around. "What?"

"I like you." I repeated. "I mean, I was with William but I'm not now and I really do like you."

His jaw dropped open and for a second, the room was completely silent. I didn't hear the movie in the background. I didn't hear the whirring of the DVD player. I didn't hear the icemaker in the fridge. Just me and him, alone on the couch, like we were the only two people left alive on the planet. "You're not…" He paused, trying to find a delicate way to word the sentence, then decided to plow into it. "You're not just saying that, are you?"

"I know I was a bitch, and I probably wouldn't blame you for turning around and walking away, but—"

"You weren't a bitch." He interrupted and held up a hand.

"I was. And I'm not just saying I like you to…"

"I know."

Again, silence. Then I noticed that there were tears in his eyes, and that he was slowly leaning towards me and I was slowly leaning towards him.

Our lips met just as my parents threw open the front door.

Ulrich proposed to me two weeks ago. The wedding is set for this summer. When my dad asked Ulrich if he knew what he was getting himself into, marrying me when he still has a year of school left, Ulrich looked him straight in the eye and said, "Mr. Ishiyama, I love your daughter." Nothing more.

Dad left him alone after that.

We've both agreed that we want kids. I want a little girl. I'll name her Lane, and Jeremie and Odd and Aelita will spoil her absolutely rotten. I'll buy her frilly pink clothes and cute shoes, and doll her up even if we're only going to one of Ulrich's soccer games.

My parents asked me to finish college before I got pregnant. I wouldn't promise anything, only that I'd graduate before I got married. I did, and we are. But mom and dad are right. They're always right. Having a newborn and trying to finish college at the same time would be a nightmare. But I'm not pregnant, and we're still not married, so things will happen as they happen, I suppose.

Oh, one more thing about knights.

According to "courtly love", they never had sex with their lady.

Maybe Ulrich's not such a knight, after all…

ZXCVBNM

I FINALLY HAVE A NEW PHONE AND NOT THE BRICK I'VE HAD FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS!!!!!

That is all.

Oh, everything in there about knights is true. Except that maybe the word Knight is supposed to be capitalized, but I dunno. It's one in the morning and I have church in eight hours. I'm going to sleep.

Goodnight, all!

Lilyana


End file.
